Ascend to Boost ADN Capacity to Meet Nylon 66 Demand

There are industry concerns that current global capacity of ADN is not up to par with fast growing nylon 66 demand.

Article Post: 6/6/2018

Staff Report

The largest fully-integrated producer of nylon 66, Houston-based Ascend Performance Materials is embarking on significant capacity expansion of adiponitrile (ADN) used in the production of primary nylon 66 component hexamethylene diamine. The company completed its first expansion of 110,231,132 million/lbs at the end of 2017, and will have an additional 88,184,904 lbs by year’s end. A further larger expansion of 396,832,071 lbs will be realized by 2022.

“We are committed to supporting the growth of the nylon 66 chain, globally. We have a proven track record of consistently increasing capacity throughout the chain as demand increased. With our latest fifth generation ADN technology, we are able to add capacity without extensive downtime,” said Ascend’s president and CEO Phil McDivitt. There are industry concerns that current global ADN capacity is not up to par with the fast growing demand for nylon 66, particularly from the automotive sector.